Dear Friends,
NEWS FLASH: Tonight at 7:00 PM ET/ 4:00 PM PT, you can listen live on the Internet to FOR's Lucas Johnson and civil rights leader Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons in conversation with "On Being" host Krista Tippett. This livestream program on the civil rights movement’s relevance for our time — and the competing philosophies it carried about how social change happens — will be broadcast live from NPR Studio 1 in Washington, D.C.
This Saturday, Dec. 14 is the one-year anniversary of the massacre in Newtown, CT.
This afternoon a National Vigil for Gun Violence Victims will be held in Washington, DC. It can be watched live online via webcast from the Washington National Cathedral, at 3:45 ET/ 12:45 PT.
More than 1,000 clergy, elected officials, survivors of gun violence, family members of gun violence victims, and community members will gather at the Washington National Cathedral for the National Vigil for Gun Violence Victims. They will be joined by singer Carole King and the World Children's Choir.
Tomorrow, Dec. 13, we join with our allies at Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence on an interfaith call-in day to Congress.
Join us in urging our senators to pass laws to prevent gun violence. Text "FAITHSCALLING" to 877-877 to have a reminder texted to you on Friday. Past Faiths United days of action have prompted more than 10,000 calls made in a single day. Let's make this the biggest interfaith call-in day on gun violence prevention ever.
On Saturday, Dec. 14, communities around the country will hold vigils to remember the deaths in Newtown and beyond. Many of these services are being sponsored by our allies at Moms Demand Action.
 To remind us of the lives lost and their effect on us, we share with you two personal tributes to Renisha McBride and Jordan Davis. Renisha was shot and killed last month in Dearborn Heights, MI, and Jordan was killed a year earlier in Jacksonville, FL.
Today FOR staffer Lucas Johnson penned this personal reflection on their lives, and this video tribute is offered by Nicole Newman, a community activist who represented FOR during the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington this August.
Gun murders claim the lives of more than 30 people each day in our nation. Since last December, we have made progress in gun violence prevention -- at the state level, in growing congressional awareness, and in the corporate sector (such as Starbucks) -- but we still do not have federal laws that require universal background check before gun purchases or that ban military-style assault weapons. We can and must do better.
So at this tragic anniversary, as we remember the lives lost each day to guns, let us pledge together to act to prevent such violence in the days to come.
In peace,
Ethan, Kristin, Lucas, John, Shauen, and all the team at FOR |
